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Monday, March 21, 2011

One of my Chinese friends offered me a bite of the traditional Chinese "Peanut Sesame Candy" and they were just amazing! I enthusiastically responded by telling her about our peanut balls (கடலை மிட்டாய் popular in South India) and the Laddoos made out sesame seeds(तिल), common in North India. Of course, all these are not really similar, as they're not sweetened using the same ingredient; the Chinese use brown sugar and we use jaggery and sugar respectively. However, I like all of them and virtually anything sweet!

Peanuts or Groundnuts are truly Mother Nature's storehouse of Vitamins as they are said to contain about 13 different vitamins and essential minerals like Calcium and Iron! Plus, when it comes to Proteins, nothing can beat peanuts! That's why it's usually a big hit among vegetarians. I add roasted peanuts in Ladies finger/Okra dry curry, which is a tip learnt from Bindu mami (aunt). I also love boiled peanuts too and it makes a very nutritious snack.

Here, in this recipe, we add powdered peanuts and sesame seeds to brinjals (eggplants) and you'll marvel at the whole new dimension it gives to the boring tomatoes+onions masala! Trust me, even those who hate eggplants should try this recipe. My sister, who belongs to that category just loves this :)

The source is from a TV cookery show by Mallika Badrinath.

What You Need -

Purple brinjals - 250 g

Onions - 2

Tomatoes- 3

Oil- 3 tsp

Tamarind extract - 2 tbsp

Ginger-garlic paste - 1.5 tsp

Red chilli powder - 1 tsp

Salt - to taste

Peanuts/Groundnuts - 1 tbsp

White sesame seeds (வெள்ளை எள்ளு) - 1 tbsp

Coriander seeds - 1 tbsp

How To -

Slice brinjals and 1 onion length-wise and chop the tomatoes.

Microwave all the 3 together with 2 tsp oil for about 8-10 minutes, after which, it would look something like this -

Take a kadai/tawa, heat 1/2 tsp oil and cube an onion and fry it for 3 minutes. Allow it cool and then grind to a paste. I've used yellow onion here. But I'm sure red onion goes well too.

Take a small ball of tamarind and extract thick juice from it.

While the brinjal gets cooked in the microwave, dry roast together, peanuts, sesame seeds and coriander seeds (No oil). You can use peanuts with or without its skin.

Powder after cooling them for about 10 minutes.

Now get back to the tawa. Boil tamarind extract along with fried onion paste and ginger-garlic paste. Add red chilli powder and salt. To this mixture, add the microwaved brinjals +onions +tomatoes. Add some water if you feel the mixture is getting dried up.